Tag Archives: Pine-Island

Changing Antarctica

Antarctica is a vast ice sheet. The continent is larger than the United States of America, and has enough ice to raise global sea levels by ~58 m if it all melted. It is extremely cold, with very little surface melt.

However, it is changing rapidly. Parts of West Antarctica are grounded well below sea level, which can act to destabliise the ice sheet. Warm ocean currents are able to melt ice shelves from below, and cause a retreat of the grounding line of tidewater glaciers. These articles outline how Antarctica is changing.

West Antarctic Ice Sheet

These pages cover information on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. This is the part of Antarctica west of the Transantarctic Mountains. It is characterised by a bed that is largely below sea level. The two largest ice streams draining the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier.

Other relevant articles:

Landsat Image Mosaic of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet from 1992 to 2017

Posted on by
1

A new paper with a whole host of authors has just been published in Nature (IMBIE Team, 2018). It provides a new estimate of mass balance of the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet over the last 25 years, the longest and most thorough estimate of this to date.

This article argues that the Antarctic Peninsula, the smallest ice sheet in Antarctica, has lost an average of 20 Gigatonnes (Gt) of ice per year over the 25 year study. This increased during the study and especially since the year 2000.  The West Antarctic Ice Sheet lost 53±29 Gt yr-1 from 1992-1997, but this accelerated to 159±26 Gt yr-1 from 2012-2017. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet is more stable, with small gains (with large errors) over the study period. Continue reading →

Antarctica

Reply

This page focuses on introducing the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Antarctica is actually composed of three ice sheets: the Antarctic Peninsula, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.

You may also be interested in reading about the Patagonian Ice Sheet or the British-Irish Ice Sheet.

Antarctica StoryMap Series

You can learn more about Antarctica in the Antarctica StoryMap Series, a collection of four StoryMap Collections that explore Antarctica, it’s ecology and wildlife, how it is impacted by climate change and People in Antarctica.

Antarctica StoryMap Series

Freely available talks about Antarctica

This introductory lecture (21 minutes) introduces Antarctica, climate change and geopolitics with Dr Bethan Davies and Professor Klaus Dodds. This video is suitable for A-Level and post-16 students. You can also learn more about territorial claims in Antarctica in this excellent ESRI StoryMap.

Here, you can watch a more advanced lecture (1 hr) given by Dr Bethan Davies on climate change and her research in Antarctica. This video is suitable for undergraduate or postgraduate students or researchers.

Pine Island Glacier

3

Investigating Pine Island Glacier | Why is Pine Island Glacier important? | Pine Island Glacier ice shelf | Pine Island Glacier: the longer term view | Conclusions | References | Comments |

Investigating Pine Island Glacier

A fast-flowing ice stream

Pine Island Glacier is one of the largest ice streams in Antarctica. It flows, together with Thwaites Ice Stream, into the Amundsen Sea embayment in West Antarctica, and the two ice streams together drain ~5% of the Antarctic Ice Sheet1. Pine Island Glacier flows at rates of up to 4000 m per year2.

Pine Island Glacier is of interest to scientists because it is changing rapidly; it is thinning, accelerating and receding3, all of which contribute directly to sea level, and its future under a warming climate is uncertain.

Pine Island Glacier is buttressed by a large, floating ice shelf, which helps to stabilise the glacier, but this ice shelf is itself thinning and recently calved a huge iceberg.

Ice streams of Antarctica with Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites glacier highlighted.
Ice streams of Antarctica with Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites glacier highlighted.

Just watch how fast the ice flows in the video below, and notice especially how the ice speeds up when it reaches the floating ice shelf.

Caption: Visualisation of ice flow in the Antarctic ice sheet model PISM-PIK. The white dots show how particles move with the ice which are initially randomly distributed over the ice surface. Colours in addition show the flow speed. By Youtube user pikff1.

An inaccessible location

Despite this interest, Pine Island Glacier is difficult to access. It is remote from any research bases, so flying there means making multiple short flights, making fuel depots to allow scientists to hop to the location. Low lying cloud often makes flying hazardous. The ice stream is heavily-crevassed and dangerous, so walking on it is difficult. Sea ice keeps ships away, making it difficult to access the ice stream from the ocean.

However, scientists have several ingenious ways in which they can observe changes to this fragile, important ice stream. They can measure changes in ice extent and thinning from satellites4,5, and they have fired javelins loaded with sensors onto the ice surface, into places with too many crevasses for people to travel.

Finally, scientists on board ships have deployed ‘Autosub’ beneath the very ice shelf, to make observations where no man can go.

Autosub near the ice (from http://www.krapp.org/rupert/archiv.html/2007_08_01_archive.html)
Autosub near the ice (from http://www.krapp.org/rupert/archiv.html/2007_08_01_archive.html)

Exploring Pine Island Glacier

You can use Google Earth below to explore the ice stream. Can you identify the ice shelf? If you zoom in far enough, you’ll be able to see the huge crack in the ice shelf. You can also see how the surface of both the ice stream and ice shelf is heavily crevassed, making it difficult to walk on the surface of the ice.


View Pine Island Glacier in a larger map

Why is Pine Island Glacier important?

Pine Island Glacier drains much of the marine-based West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and it has a configuration susceptible to rapid disintegration and recession. The ice sheet in this area is grounded up to 2000 m below sea level, making it intrinsically unstable6 and susceptible to rapid melting at its base, and to rapid migration of the grounding line up the ice stream7 (see Marine Ice Sheet Instability).

The images below show how much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, especially around Pine Island Glacier, is grounded well below sea level.

Pine Island Glacier is one of the most dynamic features of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. It is buttressed by a large ice shelf that is currently thinning8, and the ice stream itself has a negative mass balance (the melting is not replaced by snowfall)3, it is flowing faster9,  and the grounding line is retreating further and further up into the bay.

Simplified cartoon of a tributary glacier feeding into an ice shelf, showing the grounding line (where the glacier begins to float).
Simplified cartoon of a tributary glacier feeding into an ice shelf, showing the grounding line (where the glacier begins to float).

The grounding line receded by more than 20 km from 1996 to 20092. The ice stream is steepening, which increases the gravitational driving stress, helping it to flow faster, and there is no indication that the glacier is approaching a steady state10.

Possible future collapse?

Pine Island Glacier could collapse – stagnate and retreat far up into the bay, resulting in rapid sea level rise – within the next few centuries, raising global sea levels by 1.5 m11,12, out of a total of 3.3 m from the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet13.

Some studies have suggested that the entire main trunk of Pine Island Glacier could unground and become afloat within 100 years14, but more recent modelling efforts suggest that much longer timescales are needed to unground the entire trunk2.

These numerical computer models indicate that annual rates of sea level rise from Pine Island Glacier could reach 2.7 cm per 100 years2. Under the A1B “Business as Usual” emissions scenario from the IPCC (2.6°C warming by 2100), Gladstone et al. (2012) predict recession over the next 200 years with huge uncertainty over the rate of retreat, and full collapse of the trunk of Pine Island Glacier during the 22nd Century remains a possibility15.

A1B warming scenarios from the IPCC. A1B is the "Business as Usual" scenario, with emissions continuing to increase in line with present-day rates of increase.
A1B warming scenarios from the IPCC. A1B is the “Business as Usual” scenario, with emissions continuing to increase in line with present-day rates of increase. The grey bars at the right indicate the best estimate and likely range of temperatures.

It remains difficult to assess how soon a collapse of Pine Island Glacier could occur, but a new paper by Bamber and Aspinall (2013) suggest that there is a growing view that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could become unstable over the next 100 years16.

The largest contibution to global sea level rise from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets combined is around 16.9 mm per year, but is more likely to be around 5.4 mm per year by 2100. This gives a total of 33 to 132 cm of global total sea level rise by 2100. Uncertainty over the future behaviour of Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is one of the largest constraints on accurately predicting future sea level rise16.

Current behaviour

Pine Island Glacier is currently flowing very quickly and it is accelerating, causing thinning. The velocity is well above that required to maintain mass balance – so the ice stretches longitudinally, and thins vertically3.

In the figure below, from Rignot et al. 2008, you can see that mass losses from Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier dominate Antarctic Ice Sheet ice losses. Mass loss from this basin doubled from 1996 to 2006, and it is the largest ice loss in Antarctica.

Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature (Rignot et al., 2008), copyright 2008
Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature
(Rignot et al., 2008), copyright 2008

Pine Island Glacier ice shelf

Pine Island Glacier has a large ice shelf, which supports the glacier. Removal of the ice shelf would likely result in rapid acceleration, thinning and recession as the glacier adjusts to new boundary conditions; these reactions have been observed following ice shelf collapse around the Antarctic Peninsula17-21.

The ice shelf around Pine Island Glacier is currently thinning, and it is warmed from below by Circumpolar Deep Water that flows onto the continental shelf22,23. This melts the ice shelf from below24, and this melting is probably the cause of the observed ice stream thinning, acceleration and grounding line recession25, which is contributing to a sea level rise of 1.2 mm per decade3.

Calving Icebergs

Pine Island Glacier ice shelf periodically calves huge icebergs. The ice shelf currently loses around 62.3 ± 5 Gigatonnes per year of ice through calving, and loses 101.2 ± 8 Gigatonnes per year through basal melting24. It calved a large iceberg in 2001, and in 2011 a huge rift developed on the ice shelf.  This iceberg was finally calved in July 2013. It’s about eight times the size of New York, or half the size of Greater London, at 720 km2.

However, this iceberg calving event is a natural process, part of how the ice shelf regularly calves – this ice shelf spawns huge icebergs every 6-10 years. Releasing a huge iceberg, by itself, is a normal process, unrelated to warming, but increased calving may occur in the future if the ice shelf continues to thin, which would make it susceptible to plate bending and hydrofracture processes21. This threshold has yet to be passed.

NASA’s DC-8 flies across the crack forming across the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf on Oct. 26, 2011. The ice shelf is in the midst of a natural process of calving a large iceberg, which it hasn’t done since 2001. Credit: Jefferson Beck/NASA
NASA’s DC-8 flies across the crack forming across the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf on Oct. 26, 2011. The ice shelf is in the midst of a natural process of calving a large iceberg, which it hasn’t done since 2001. Credit: Jefferson Beck/NASA

Current melting, thinning and acceleration

What is concerning is the current intense melting, thinning and glacier acceleration observed on Pine Island Glacier ice shelf22. Measurements from the British Antarctic Survey’s Autosub, the intrepid sub-ice shelf explorer, help scientists understand sub-ice conditions.

Autosub is a remotely operated vehicle, loaded with sensors that measure temperature, salinity, pressure and so on, and it can map the sea bed using downward-pointing swath bathymetry. It can dive to 1600 m and travel 400 km, and it has a clever collision avoidance system.  It’s a dangerous business; several iterations of Autosub have been lost under the ice.

However, data from Autosubs that did return indicates that more warm Circumpolar Deep Water has been in Pine Island Bay in recent summers22. Meltwater production underneath the ice shelf increased by 50% from 1994 to 2011; this increased melting results from stronger sub-ice-shelf circulation. As the ice shelf thins, more water is able to circulate beneath it22, exacerbating the problem and encouraging further melting.

Warm ocean waters are melting a cavity beneath Pine Island Glacier
Warm ocean waters are melting a cavity beneath Pine Island Glacier. After Schoof, 2010, Nature Geosci, 3, 450-451.

Pine Island Glacier ice shelf now has one of the fastest rates of ice-shelf thinning in Antarctica24,25.

Antarctic ice shelf thickness changes. Note the rapid thinning of Pine Island Glacier ice shelf in West Antarctica. From Pritchard et al., 2012, Nature. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature (Pritchard et al. 2012), copyright (2012).
Antarctic ice shelf thickness changes. Note the rapid thinning of Pine Island Glacier ice shelf in West Antarctica. From Pritchard et al., 2012, Nature. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature
(Pritchard et al. 2012), copyright (2012).

Pine Island Glacier: the longer term view

It is important that we take a longer-term perspective of the current changes observed on Pine Island Glacier. Are these on-going changes unprecedented, or are they part of the normal behaviour for the glacier? Marine sediment cores and swath bathymetry from ships can image the sea floor and detect and date the former behaviour of this ice stream.

These data suggest that the recession of this ice stream was largely controlled by sea level rise, with a 55 m in sea level rise during deglaciation resulting in 225 km of grounding-line recession26.

At the Last Glacial Maximum, circa 18,000 years ago, the ice stream was at the continental shelf edge27. It rapidly shrank back from around 16,400 years ago, when rising sea levels made this ice stream more buoyant, causing lift-off, decoupling from the ice sheet’s bed, and recession. 

The ice stream continued to recede from 16,400 to 12,300 years ago, controlled by global sea level rise. It reached its current position around 10,000 years ago27.

The recession of the ice stream was also controlled by the presence or absence of ice shelves. From 12300 to 10600 years ago, there was a large ice shelf throughout the Amundsen Sea Embayment. This ice shelf collapsed after 10600 years ago28, when warmer waters flowed onto the continental shelf. The grounding line of the ice stream retreated rapidly following ice-shelf collapse26.

It seems that the glacier is capable of very rapid recession within millennial timescales27, and that the dynamics between ice shelf and ice stream are intrinsically linked.  More work at a higher resolution, combined with modelling studies, is required to fine-tune and better understand the longer-term history of Pine Island Glacier.

Conclusions

Pine Island Glacier is a cause for concern, because it’s thinning rapidly, steepening, accelerating and receding. It is out of balance. Huge amounts of meltwater are generated in a large cavity beneath the ice shelf. It periodically, every 10 or so years, calves large icebergs – but on their own, they are not worrisome. The recently calved iceberg may be 720 km2, but that’s the least of this ice stream’s worries. This ice stream is unlikely to collapse in our lifetime – but the same cannot be said for future generations.

Pine Island Glacier is one of the largest ice streams in Antarctica, and drains much of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Because it is grounded in ever deeper sea water, it is vulnerable to melting at its base and rapid grounding line migration. A collapse of Pine Island Glacier could occur within 1000-2000 years, raising sea levels by up to 1.5 m, but it is unlikely to contribute to more than 2.7 cm of sea level rise over the next 100 years.

Wider Reading

References


1.            Vaughan, D.G., Smith, A.M., Corr, H.F.J., Jenkins, A., Bentley, C.R., Stenoien, M.D., Jacobs, S.S., Kellogg, T.B., Rignot, E. & Lucchitta, B.K. A Review of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica: Hypotheses of Instability Vs. Observations of Change. in The West Antarctic Ice Sheet: Behavior and Environment 237-256 (American Geophysical Union, 2001).

2.            Joughin, I., Smith, B.E. & Holland, D.M. Sensitivity of 21st century sea level to ocean-induced thinning of Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters 37, L20502 (2010).

3.            Rignot, E., Bamber, J.L., van den Broeke, M.R., Davis, C., Li, Y., van de Berg, W.J. & van Meijgaard, E. Recent Antarctic ice mass loss from radar interferometry and regional climate modelling. Nature Geosci 1, 106-110 (2008).

4.            Rignot, E., Mouginot, J. & Scheuchl, B. Ice Flow of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science (2011).

5.            Shepherd, A., Wingham, D.J., Mansley, J.A.D. & Corr, H.F.J. Inland thinning of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica. Science 291, 862-864 (2001).

6.            Schoof, C. Ice sheet grounding line dynamics: Steady states, stability, and hysteresis. Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface 112(2007).

7.            Mercer, J.H. West Antarctic Ice Sheet and CO2 Greenhouse effect – threat of disaster. Nature 271, 321-325 (1978).

8.            Rignot, E. Ice-shelf changes in Pine Island Bay, Antarctica, 1947-2000. Journal of Glaciology 48, 247-256 (2002).

9.            Rignot, E. Changes in ice dynamics and mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 364, 1637-1655 (2006).

10.          Scott, J.B.T., Gudmundsson, G.H., Smith, A.M., Bingham, R.G., Pritchard, H.D. & Vaughan, D.G. Increased rate of acceleration on Pine Island Glacier strongly coupled to changes in gravitational driving stress. Cryosphere 3, 125-131 (2009).

11.          Hughes, T. A simple holistic hypothesis for the self-destruction of ice sheets. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 1829-1845 (2011).

12.          Vaughan, D.G. West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse – the fall and rise of a paradigm. Climatic Change 91, 65-79 (2008).

13.          Bamber, J.L., Riva, R.E.M., Vermeersen, B.L.A. & Le Brocq, A.M. Reassessment of the potential sea-level rise from a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science 324, 901-903 (2009).

14.          Wingham, D.J., Wallis, D.W. & Shepherd, A. Spatial and temporal evolution of Pine Island Glacier thinning, 1995-2006. Geophysical Research Letters 36, L17501 (2009).

15.        Gladstone, R.M., Lee, V., Rougier, J., Payne, A.J., Hellmer, H., Le Brocq, A., Shepherd, A., Edwards, T.L., Gregory, J. & Cornford, S.L. Calibrated prediction of Pine Island Glacier retreat during the 21st and 22nd centuries with a coupled flowline model. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 333–334, 191-199 (2012).

16.          Bamber, J. L., and Aspinall, W. P. (2013). An expert judgement assessment of future sea level rise from the ice sheets. Nature Clim. Change 3, 424-427.

17.         Scambos, T.A., Bohlander, J.A., Shuman, C.A. & Skvarca, P. Glacier acceleration and thinning after ice shelf collapse in the Larsen B embayment, Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters 31, L18402 (2004).

18.          De Angelis, H. & Skvarca, P. Glacier surge after ice shelf collapse. Science 299, 1560-1562 (2003).

19.          Rott, H., Rack, W., Skvarca, P. & De Angelis, H. Northern Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica: further retreat after collapse. Annals of Glaciology 34, 277-282 (2002).

20.          Glasser, N.F., Scambos, T.A., Bohlander, J.A., Truffer, M., Pettit, E.C. & Davies, B.J. From ice-shelf tributary to tidewater glacier: continued rapid glacier recession, acceleration and thinning of Röhss Glacier following the 1995 collapse of the Prince Gustav Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Glaciology 57, 397-406 (2011).

21.          Scambos, T., Fricker, H.A., Liu, C.-C., Bohlander, J., Fastook, J., Sargent, A., Massom, R. & Wu, A.-M. Ice shelf disintegration by plate bending and hydro-fracture: Satellite observations and model results of the 2008 Wilkins ice shelf break-ups. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 280, 51-60 (2009).

22.          Jacobs, S.S., Jenkins, A., Giulivi, C.F. & Dutrieux, P. Stronger ocean circulation and increased melting under Pine Island Glacier ice shelf. Nature Geoscience 4, 519-523 (2011).

23.          Jenkins, A., Dutrieux, P., Jacobs, S.S., McPhail, S.D., Perrett, J.R., Webb, A.T. & White, D. Observations beneath Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica and implications for its retreat. Nature Geoscience 3, 468-472 (2010).

24.          Rignot, E., Jacobs, S., Mouginot, J. & Scheuchl, B. Ice Shelf Melting Around Antarctica. Science (2013).

25.          Pritchard, H.D., Ligtenberg, S.R.M., Fricker, H.A., Vaughan, D.G., van den Broeke, M.R. & Padman, L. Antarctic ice-sheet loss driven by basal melting of ice shelves. Nature 484, 502-505 (2012).

26.          Kirshner, A.E., Anderson, J.B., Jakobsson, M., O’Regan, M., Majewski, W. & Nitsche, F.O. Post-LGM deglaciation in Pine Island Bay, West Antarctica. Quaternary Science Reviews 38, 11-26 (2012).

27.          Lowe, A.L. & Anderson, J.B. Reconstruction of the West Antarctic ice sheet in Pine Island Bay during the Last Glacial Maximum and its subsequent retreat history. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 1879-1897 (2002).

28.          Jakobsson, M., Anderson, J.B., Nitsche, F.O., Dowdeswell, J.A., Gyllencreutz, R., Kirchner, N., Mohammed, R., O’Regan, M., Alley, R.B., Andandakrishnan, S., Eriksson, B., Kirshner, A., Fernandez, R., Stolldorf, T., Minzoni, R. & Majewski, W. Geological record of ice shelf break-up and grounding line retreat, Pine Island Bay, West Antarctica. Geology 39, 691-694 (2011).

Go to top or jump to Marine Ice Sheet Instability.

West Antarctic Ice Sheet

17

Introduction | Topography | Oceanography | Ice streams and ice shelves | References | Comments |

Introduction

Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica, showing the different ice sheets of Antarctica

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (the WAIS) is capable of rapid change as it is a marine ice sheet and therefore could be unstable. It has the potential to raise global sea level by 3.3 m[1] over a matter of centuries. The Transantarctic Mountains divide the West Antarctic Ice Sheet from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet[2]. West Antarctica is approximately 97% ice-covered, and is 1.97 x 106 km2 in area. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet flows into the Bellingshausen, Weddell, Amundsen and Ross seas.

There are principally three sectors of the ice sheet, which flow northeast-ward into the Weddell Sea, westward into the Ross Ice Shelf and northward into the Amundsen/Bellingshausen seas. The highest elevations reached are 3000 m above sea level[2], occurring at the divides between these sectors. The size of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is limited, despite its high average snow falls, by the faster speeds of its ice streams.

Topography

Images of the Amundsen Sea Embayment, showing: Landsat image (LIMA); BEDMAP bed elevation (from Lythe et al., 2001); and ice velocity (from Rignot et al. 2011)

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is, in places, over 2000 m thick, with the geological floor well below sea level. The marine basins are variable, with both rough mountainous terrain and flat, deep oceanic basins[2], with a maximum depth of 2555 m below present sea level.

During past interglacials, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been completely removed[3], which is one of the arguments supporting a Marine Ice Sheet Instability hypothesis. During past glacials, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet extended to the continental shelf edge[4-6], drained by numerous ice streams[7, 8], such as the Pine Island and Thwaites ice streams, which flow out into the Amundsen Sea. In the four-panel figure opposite, you can see these two ice streams clearly. They are grounded below sea level and drain a large proportion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

In the map below, showing ice thicknesses across the Antarctic continent, you can see that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has ice thicknesses of up to 2000 m, but that it is largely grounded below sea level. The maximum altitude of the ice surface is less than 2000 m above sea level. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is divided from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet by the large Transantarctic Mountains.

The BEDMAP 2 dataset shows how ice thickness across the Antarctic continent is variable, with thin ice over the mountains and thick ice over East Antarctica. The cross section shows how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is grounded below sea level.

The BEDMAP 2 dataset (Fretwell et al. 2013) shows how ice thickness across the Antarctic continent is variable, with thin ice over the mountains and thick ice over East Antarctica. The cross section shows how the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is grounded below sea level.

Oceanography

Simplified schematic map of ocean currents of the Southern Ocean.

West Antarctica is surrounded by a strong clockwise circumpolar circulation. These currents play a significant role in the global thermohaline circulation, and are one of the reasons why Antarctica is so cold.

At shallower depths, Circumpolar Deep Water can move across the continental shelf and reach the underside of ice shelves[2], which it can rapidly melt due to its relatively warm temperatures.

Ice streams and ice shelves

Simplified cartoon of a tributary glacier feeding into an ice shelf, showing the grounding line (where the glacier begins to float).

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is drained by several large ice streams. The basal sediments of West Antarctica comprise soft marine sediments. Combined with geothermal heating at the base, this is sufficient to allow glaciers to slide rapidly: see Glacial Processes. This ice flow is partly constrained by buttressing ice shelves. The ice streams flow from an inland reservoir of ice towards the ocean, passing over a grounding line and, in places, into an ice shelf. Nearly all the precipitation received in West Antarctica eventually passes through these ice streams[2].

Further reading

To learn more about the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, you can read:

Go to top or jump to Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet.

References

1.            Bamber, J.L., Riva, R.E.M., Vermeersen, B.L.A., and Le Brocq, A.M., 2009. Reassessment of the potential sea-level rise from a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science, 2009. 324(5929): p. 901-903.

2.            Bindschadler, R., 2006. The environment and evolution of the West Antarctic ice sheet: setting the stage. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2006. 364(1844): p. 1583-1605.

3.            Scherer, R.P., Aldahan, A., Tulaczyk, S., Possnert, G., Engelhardt, H., and Kamb, B., 1998. Pleistocene Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Science, 1998. 281(5373): p. 82-85.

4.            Bentley, M.J. and Anderson, J.B., 1998. Glacial and marine geological evidence for the ice sheet configuration in the Weddell Sea-Antarctic Peninsula region during the Last Glacial Maximum. Antarctic Science, 1998. 10(3): p. 309-325.

5.            Lowe, A.L. and Anderson, J.B., 2002. Reconstruction of the West Antarctic ice sheet in Pine Island Bay during the Last Glacial Maximum and its subsequent retreat history. Quaternary Science Reviews, 2002. 21(16-17): p. 1879-1897.

6.            Anderson, J.B., Shipp, S.S., Lowe, A.L., Wellner, J.S., and Mosola, A.B., 2002. The Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum and its subsequent retreat history: a review. Quaternary Science Reviews, 2002. 21(1-3): p. 49-70.

7.            Graham, A.G.C., Larter, R.D., Gohl, K., Hillenbrand, C.-D., Smith, J.A., and Kuhn, G., 2009. Bedform signature of a West Antarctic palaeo-ice stream reveals a multi-temporal record of flow and substrate control. Quaternary Science Reviews, 2009. 28(25-26): p. 2774-2793.

8.            Livingstone, S.J., O Cofaigh, C., Stokes, C.R., Hillenbrand, C.-D., Vieli, A., and Jamieson, S.S.R., 2012. Antarctic palaeo-ice streams. Earth-Science Reviews, 2012. 111(1-2): p. 90-128.

Go to top or jump to Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet.